Various types of disk drives, such as magnetic disk drives, are used to provide data storage for a host device through a bus or network. Typical host devices include stand alone computer systems such as a desktop or laptop computer, enterprise storage devices such as servers, storage arrays such as a redundant array of independent disks arrays, storage routers, storage switches and storage directors, and other consumer devices such as video game systems and digital video recorders. These devices provide high storage capacity in a cost effective manner.
During the manufacturing process of a media, defects can damage a sector of the media and prevent data from being reliably stored in or retrieved from that sector. Defects are flaws within the media, which may result from the presence of dust particles. In other instances, defects may result from aberrations during the manufacturing process. For example, defects may be minute pinholes or asperities caused by the failure of the coating, plating or sputtering processes used to manufacture the media. These defects, if not accurately identified and corrected, can make a portion of the media unsuitable for the storage of information.